


By No Other Design

by replaydebut



Category: K-pop, SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, Mentions of Death, Minor Violence, Near Death Experience, Sexual Content, Vampire Sex, Vampire Turning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:35:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26290483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/replaydebut/pseuds/replaydebut
Summary: The figure stepped out fully, and the force of his gaze pierced Jonghyun right through the heart. He’d never seen eyes like those—an endless pool of black that glittered silver as the moonlight illuminated them. He looked at Jonghyun as if he could see straight to the back of his skull.
Relationships: Kim Jonghyun/Lee Jinki | Onew
Comments: 10
Kudos: 22
Collections: K-Pop Ficmix 2020





	By No Other Design

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meltingheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meltingheart/gifts).
  * Inspired by [there is a fountain](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21115013) by [meltingheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meltingheart/pseuds/meltingheart). 



> I had a lot more planned for this story, but unfortunately time wasn't on my side! I hope the original author will still enjoy what I came up with, and I highly encourage everyone to check out the original fic because it is written with so much detail, love, and care <3 It's one of my fav shinee fics ever <3
> 
> This story is a kind of prequel/companion to the original that details Jonghyun's experience of being turned into a vampire (which he briefly tells Minho about in the original fic). I set it during the Joseon Dynasty, but I wasn't able to research as throughly as I would have liked so I tried to keep historical details a bit vague, while still making reference to the time and place. That said, if there are any huge inaccuracies please do not hesitate to let me know!
> 
> Lastly, since this is a story about Jonghyun being turned into a vampire, he has a near death experience. It is not very violent or graphic, but please proceed with caution if it could be upsetting for you.
> 
> And thank you of course to the ficmix mods! I have wanted to do this event since 2018, and I'm so happy I finally had the chance!
> 
> Please enjoy!<3 Playlist is [here](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/ficmix/pl.u-8aAVoo1UNXZAzL) ^^

  
Jonghyun sat dutifully in the reading room, pouring over the latest of the old, thick books of folktales that he had been using for his research. He was planning to draft a collection soon—an overview of the most prevalent and interesting stories passed down through each generation and across the social classes. 

After months of rigorous work, he was down to the more obscure titles that the collection had to offer—fine tuning the details and cross-checking each account. The light of the oil lamp which had been steadily burning for hours was beginning to fade when met with the increasing black of the night. The shadows had begun to descend over the village, the scholar’s dwelling, and the palace way beyond. 

Jonghyun bit his lip and leaned in closer to finish the last sentence on his page of notes, flourishing his stroke with a flick of the ink brush. His upper lip was sticky with sweat—exertion from the long hours combined with the heavy heat of summer which had quickly begun to fall like a net across the kingdom, trapping everyone in like suffocating bugs.

He hated summer. He hated the way the heat stuck to his cheeks and dripped down his back as he tried to stay poised and formal when he presented his work to the chief scholars. He hated having to sit patiently in the hall during the daily gyeongyeon lessons, trying not to reach back and itch at the spot between his shoulder blades.

It was in summers when he most longed to ditch his overcoat, to strip down to his barest undergarments and lay in the shade of the woods; to bask in the cool moonlight as the evening arrived. He found himself daydreaming of it in the middle of lessons; of the freedom to run into nature and let it envelop him.

These thoughts were far from realistic. They were fantastical dreams with no basis in reality or reason. He knew he shouldn’t dwell on them, but often at night when he readied for bed he watched his reflection in the mirror with curiosity. He studied the flowing waves of his long hair as he slipped off his headband and unwrapped his tight top knot.

Sometimes, as he looked into the mirror during those early hours of the morning when the sun had yet to crest the sky, and the moon still blinked bright into his open windows to illuminate his face, his eyes were haunted and wild. He was something more primal then—an animal bleeding out between the cracks and onto the cold stone floor, raw and ready to run.

  


  
\---

  


It first happened on an unassuming night, in the woods near the scholar’s office when Jonghyun was out for his evening stroll.

The night colored the forest in deep ocean blue, shadows stretching in tendrils along the patterns of the underbrush. Even the air seemed to shape itself into something new and unknowable. Jonghyun liked to imagine that it would even taste different—if he were to slip his tongue from between his lips and try it. 

Humid summer heat couldn't be escaped, but in the late hours it was at least bearable. He walked slowly, never in a hurry to return to his room where he would do nothing but fix his lonely gaze out the window and try not to dwell on all the work he hadn’t finished that day. 

As he walked along the familiar path, a figure draped in shadow appeared from behind a tree. Jonghyun stopped. 

The figure wore a dark, inky black hanbok whose material seemed to shimmer under the glow of the moon and bright stars. His face was cast in darkness; hair tied up in a messy knot, and no head piece of any type in sight. 

“Who are you?” Jonghyun demanded, hand instinctively falling to the sword at his side. He wasn’t much of a fighter—more of a dreamer and theorist than anything—but the customary training he’d had as a young man would have to suffice.

The figure stepped out fully, and the force of his gaze pierced Jonghyun right through the heart. He staggered in place, hand faltering on the hilt of his weapon. He’d never seen eyes like those—an endless pool of black that glittered silver as the moonlight illuminated them. He looked at Jonghyun as if he could see straight to the back of his skull.

“Does it matter?” the man asked. 

He wasn’t very tall, but his body appeared broad, healthy, and sturdy underneath the layers of his clothing. His face was full. With smooth skin, slightly rounded cheeks, and pretty, thick lips. He was handsome, all things considered. 

“Of course it does,” Jonghyun said, puzzled. 

It was a ridiculous question that no one would think to ask, but Jonghyun found himself stepping closer to the mysterious man. His feet seemed to glide along the grass without his permission—drawn in by the presence of the stranger. 

“But do you really care, or do you just have to ask that?” the man pressed on. 

His eyes shimmered again. There was something off about them; something unnatural in the way the moonlight caught them. Jonghyun blinked hard and then squinted, trying to understand what he was seeing. 

“I mean, I have to ask,” Jonghyun replied. The stranger smelled sweet—a little bit like rice wine mixed with notes of green; of the cold earth hovering beneath their feet. “But I _am_ intrigued.”

Jonghyun hadn’t been to bed with anyone in quite some time, always too busy with his work and never sociable enough to chat up the few men who came around. It wasn’t everyday he met someone new.

“I’m no one,” the man responded easily. 

Jonghyun laughed, leaning in further. He tilted his head, nearly level with the man’s mouth—his pink lips that appeared darker under the curtain of night. 

“That can have its advantages,” he said. 

Before he could make the move, a hand was on his shoulder. It was as cold as a chilly winter wind, but Jonghyun melted into it like an insect flocking to the call of a light. 

“Do you ever get tired of it?” the man asked quietly, voice dropping low enough that Jonghyun had to lean in even closer to hear. His head was nearly settled into the crook of the stranger’s neck. “Of the life you’re living?”

Jonghyun sucked in a breath, overcome by the pull of the stranger’s scent. The question struck him right in the chest, in the hollow between his ribs. “Of course not. I have a duty, and a place in this world don’t I? Something to contribute.”

The man’s smile twitched at his lips. He slid his hand up until it cradled the back of Jonghyun’s neck, one thumb pressing gently at the soft skin of his throat. “Don’t you ever want to run away from it all? The disciplined life of a scholar?”

Jonghyun blushed, cheeks heating up. Somehow, he felt no malice or judgement from the question. It was more like an invitation. 

“Yes,” Jonghyun let slip from his lips, shaky as he voiced it. He’d never said it out loud, in such plain words. “And what about you? What do you dream of?”

The man’s sly smile stretched wider, his hand still a steady weight on Jonghyun’s neck. All it would take was a shift of those fingers for him to wrap around Jonghyun’s throat and debilitate him, yet Jonghyun felt he was in no danger.

“I dream of many things,” the man whispered.  
He rubbed his thumb along Jonghyun’s throat, and Jonghyun’s eyelids fluttered shut. He leaned into the touch, lips parting and head tilting to allow the man the best access to all the willing parts of himself. 

The man stepped away. His hand dropped back to his side, caught up in the quick flourish of the black fabric of his clothes. Jonghyun blinked.

“I live at the edge of the village in a small dwelling by the trees. It’s easy to miss,” the man said.

Jonghyun nodded along, dazed.

“Come by some night, and maybe I’ll share those dreams with you,” he continued, eyes glittering wickedly in the moonlight again. 

“Will you tell me your name then?” Jonghyun prodded with a grin. He liked this back and forth game, this flirtatious teasing that they’d fallen into. 

“I’ll tell you now,” the handsome stranger replied. “I’m Lee Jinki.”

Jonghyun smiled as Jinki turned to walk away. 

“I’m Kim Jonghyun,” he supplied, voice raising a bit at the end. It rang out clear as a song in the open stretch of the night that surrounded them.

“I know!” Jinki called back, looking over his shoulder with a bright, white grin. Even his teeth shone, reflected off the light of the full moon. 

Jonghyun followed those points of light into the dark, dense thicket of trees that became the wilderness around them—the glimmer of Jinki’s black eyes, and his sharp, gleaming teeth. All the rest of him blended into the murky shadow, like a smear of spilled ink bleeding onto the edges of an empty page.

  


  
\---

  


Jonghyun and Jinki’s paths always crossed at night. The first time Jonghyun visited Jinki’s humble house by the edge of town, he’d left slightly disappointed. He’d freshened up after his day spent sweating in his study, and he’d even tucked a small pouch filled with fragrant herbs under his jeoguri, all in an attempt at subtle seduction.

He’d been too expectant in the end, as Jinki had simply prepared some tea and they’d spent the night talking through the most mundane happenings of everyday life, to the deeper truths they were looking to explore. Jonghyun had tilted his head, waited patiently for Jinki’s touch that had been so freely given on that first night under the bright full moon.

But Jinki kept his distance, and he continued to keep it during each of their little meetings. Nevertheless, Jonghyun held them close to his chest like a secret—like each time he landed on Jinki’s doorstep he was entering into a little world that was always theirs alone. 

He often brought Jinki leftover rice cakes from his lunches, or read him passages from his favorite philosophical texts. The routine became easy, comfortable, and strangely familiar. Jonghyun began to long for the night to come, for the sun to start its slow descent in the sky, and for the rest of the scholars to take their leave for bed so he could slip out quietly and undetected. He was growing attached, and Jinki’s intentions remained ambiguous. 

Jonghyun tried to hold off; to let the regularities of his life mix in with the constant presence of Jinki and his magnetic pull. He went out one evening with Wheesung—a friend since they were both young and someone he could admit to having wanted at one time. 

He was handsome in the most classic way, with a strong jaw and a rogue glint to his eyes. They’d shared a kiss or two; a fumbling in Jonghyun’s quarters when they were barely twenty, but there was nothing there that could form into something lasting. Not for the way they lived. They both knew that.

They ventured to the river on the outskirts of the village as the sun went down. It was rushing fast and strong, the water having risen after the recent summer rainstorms. The humidity was less suffocating by the cool waters’ edge, and Wheesung laughed and joked as they took their stroll.

“Dare me to jump in?” he teased, standing on the edge and reaching his arms out as he pretended to fall. Jonghyun laughed and pulled him back. 

“We both know you can’t swim,” Jonghyun countered. “Best not to tempt fate.”

Wheesung grinned, as wild and adventurous as he always had. “You’d save me if you had to.”

“That’s what you think,” Jonghyun said, smirk dancing at the edge of his lips. 

As they continued their walk, Jonghyun tilted his gaze up to the sky. The sunset had started to color it in rich purple, rosy pink, and vibrant orange. Jonghyun had always loved that moment—the brief blink of time when the day and night started to blend together and shift—from warm hues to deep, cool tones of blue and black. 

Suddenly, there was a _splash_ —loud and singular as it cracked open the silence of the night around them. And then there was a _gasp_ ; a great plea for air and life.

“Jonghyun—!” 

He turned, and Wheesung was in the water, arms flailing above his head and hat slipping off the back of it. His clothes weighed him down each time he tried to pull himself up, and his eyes were shot with a deep fear that Jonghyun had never before seen on his handsome, reckless face. 

Without thinking twice, Jonghyun lept in too, grabbing for the first body part he saw. He pulled on Wheesung’s strong arm, kicking his feet underneath him as fast as the adrenaline in his body would let him. He raced against the rushing current, looping an arm around Wheesung’s chest for a more secure hold.

He pushed ahead, never losing sight of the shore they had just been standing on—where all Jonghyun had had to worry over was what color the sky would be when the sun finally touched down. 

It was down now, the night suddenly plunged into a darkness as cold as the icy water that gripped them. He reached for the shore, digging his fingers into the rough earth. Water had slipped between his lips, slushing down his throat in violent waves. Jonghyun hoisted Wheesung up, using all his might to throw his body ashore. 

With a _thud_ , Wheesung fell onto the hard earth, coughing and sputtering as he struggled to open his eyes and sit up. Jonghyun slid back fast, his strength weakening and the tide taking him in. The adrenaline had waned, and his limbs were too sore. His eyelids slipped close, and his head nodded forward.

He heard the distant call of Wheesung’s voice in the shape of his name, but the water was coming fast, pulling him close and pulling him under. His body was a heavy, incapable weight that couldn’t push back against the force of the racing waves.

He blinked slowly, trying to stay awake, to fight the pull. Right by the shore, for a brief moment, he saw the smooth, strong features of Jinki’s face. 

The black night sky enveloped him then, falling from above and cascading down like a veil over the river, over the earth. The darkness became the light, ever-present and unwavering as it pulled him fully under, and the sound of everything stopped.

  


  
\---

  


When he awoke, Jinki was there. 

He was in Jinki’s bedroom, laying on warm padded bedding. The glow of candlelight burned low near his eyes. His hair was undone, sticking to his sweaty skin, and he had been stripped to his bare chest.

At first, there was only the muted sensation that he was _there_ —that he was on land instead of sunken and still at the bottom of the cold river. 

After that, there was pain. 

It burned like fire under his skin, ripping through his veins and shooting through the fiber of every muscle. It surged rapid and forceful in his bloodstream, so overwhelming that he would’ve torn his skin off just to stop it. 

“Aah—!” he cried out, twitching violently on the bedding and reaching out for Jinki, who sat on his knees close by. 

Jinki immediately placed a palm to his cheek, cradling his neck with his other hand and helping him lift his head. Jonghyun groaned, brain going fuzzy from how much his body ached.

“It hurts,” he grit out, knocking his head to the side to make eye contact with Jinki. He reached for the sleeve of his top. 

“I know,” Jinki whispered back. “I’ll fix it, just a moment.” 

Jinki was sweaty, face pallid and thin. He looked weaker than Jonghyun had ever seen him—the shadows of the dark room carving his face out in gaunt shapes. Jonghyun dropped his head back, falling onto the soft bedding as Jinki pulled away and reached behind him. 

A flash of something silver passed by Jonghyun’s eyes, but all the colors around the room had begun to bleed together. He couldn’t tell where Jinki was, where the candle was, or the windows beyond. He cried out again as the pain shot through him, like little arrows splintered between the cracks of his bones. 

“Drink this,” Jinki’s voice came to him in the haze of pain, and Jonghyun turned towards the sound. “It will make it go away.”

Jonghyun’s lips found hot, pulsing liquid. He gasped for it, the smell more intoxicating than even the finest alcohol served to the king. He stretched his neck out, lapping up the warm, lavish taste. It dribbled down his lips and slid along his chin. 

He moaned, half pain and half ecstasy as he licked up more. He reached out further, trying to find the edge of the cup, or the rim of the dish that held it all in its sweet entirety. 

“More,” he rasped, voice weak and barely loud enough to his own ears. He grasped for purchase, pulling on Jinki’s sleeve. 

As he did so, the source of the liquid came closer. He felt something warm, fleshy and soft underneath his fingertips. It was confusing, but Jonghyun didn’t have the energy to care or wonder. He simply pulled it closer and sucked deeper, until his mouth was coated in the heavy, rich stickiness. 

“You have to stop,” Jinki’s voice was strained and tight. “Stop, Jonghyun.”

Jonghyun whined in protest, stretching his neck out to drink down more, but Jinki’s palm pressed hard and quick against Jonghyun’s forehead. He coughed as he fell back, head hitting the bedding again. 

He blinked hard, the previously swimming colors starting to merge back together into solid form. The pain started to slip away in slow waves, from his head down through his legs and out of the bottom of his feet. In its place, another much stronger and brighter feeling seized his muscles and tingled on his skin. 

It was warm and brilliant, like a strike of white lightning or the bright, hot lick of a flame dancing up his arms and down his back. He arched off the floor, twisting back and forth and struggling to sit as his strength began to return, like a great power within him.

When he finally managed to crawl to his knees, he looked over at Jinki. He was slumped against the wall, a deep wound cut into the soft thin skin of the underside of his arm. The color was vibrant, velvety red. It shined in the dark cove of the room like a jewel—glittering and gleaming the same way that Jinki’s eyes had under the moonlight on that first night of their meeting. 

The whole room was glowing. Every color was deeper—the apex of the candle’s flame orange like the sun and the blue of the bedding as dark as the color at the bottom of the sea. He gasped, limbs shaking with the rush of strength coursing through him. 

Jonghyun turned to the opposite wall, where an oval shaped mirror hung in the center. Its edges were dark bronze that previously had been coated with a fine layer of dust, but now shined like a brand new coin. 

He caught his reflection in its shimmering surface. His lips and teeth were coated rich red like the cut in Jinki’s arm. The color extended to his chin, dripping in rivulets that slowly slid down his skin and fell in drops on the floor. 

His long, dark hair fell like a shadow down his bare chest, sweat and dirt and old water caked into his skin. It all glowed yellow in the candlelight, and his eyes were dark but shot with the silver of the familiar moon.

The animal he had seen in that reflection before had been set loose—ripped from his insides and given new, exhilarating life. His heart no longer pumped with blood, but with the force of something so much bigger than he had known.

  


  
\---

  


When he awoke again, all was quiet. Jinki lay next to him with the cut on his arm no more than a purple bruise. The candlelight was growing dim, but Jonghyun’s newfound sight had no need for it. 

Jinki reached out, gently gliding his fingers through Jonghyun’s hair. It wasn’t sweaty anymore, but had been washed clean and dried into soft waves that flowed around his shoulders. Jinki’s gaze was kind, but there was a hardness behind his eyes. Jonghyun noticed so much now. 

He swallowed. His mouth felt fuller, and when he reached to touch his teeth, he found that two of them were sharpened into long points. They felt sturdier too, like they could rip through the toughest meat, or the skin of his own friend. 

“I’m sorry,” Jinki whispered, lips ghosting Jonghyun’s ear. 

“You saved my life,” Jonghyun said, confused. “For what does that warrant an apology?” 

He reached out to touch Jinki too, sliding his fingers through his hair and studying the dark lines of his eyebrows. His skin was as cold as always, but it somehow left a lingering heat on Jonghyun’s palm. 

Jinki paused. “You were dying, yes.”

He caressed Jonghyun’s cheek, and then his mouth—fingertips lingering on his bottom lip. Jonghyun shivered, leaning in closer. Jinki slipped one finger in, nudging against the sharp edges of Jonghyun’s new fangs. 

“But I couldn’t let you. Out of my own selfish desires.”

Jonghyun slid his tongue out and licked up Jinki’s finger. The sensation was electrifying, like Jinki’s skin was vibrating all throughout his mouth and down his throat. He sucked it in quickly, picking up all the notes of hot blood, warm earth, and wax from the candle. 

Jinki was shaking as he pulled his finger from Jonghyun’s lips, a string of spit stretching across the minute space between them. 

“I’ve wanted you,” Jonghyun whispered fiercely. “Since we met, I’ve wanted you.”

Jinki clasped his cheek again, leaning forward until their foreheads touched. 

“I know, I know.”

“Can I have you now?” Jonghyun asked, voice trembling. 

“Only if I did this would you have ever been able,” Jinki replied, leaning in to run his lips up Jonghyun’s neck. He paused near the pulse point, where Jonghyun was suddenly extra sensitive. He shivered. “You tasted so sweet, I almost didn’t want to stop.”

Jonghyun moaned and pulled him closer, until Jinki’s lips were wet against that sensitive point. He leaned into it and let Jinki scratch the skin with his teeth gently, just barely catching it. It sent a jolt of heat up Jonghyun’s spine. He gasped, pulling Jinki into a kiss by the back of the head. 

Jinki smiled into it, and their fangs knocked against each other with a wet _click._

Jonghyun ached for more, to have Jinki as close as he could, until he could hear every tremble of his body underneath him, until he could taste the salt of his sweat at the moment of his climax. He wanted to unravel him as expertly as he knew Jinki had already started to unravel him.

Jinki tugged on his hair to pull him back. They panted into each other’s mouths, the coppery smell and taste of blood lingering in between them. 

“Would you want this?” Jinki gasped, eyes serious. “Or did I take from you something too precious?”

Jonghyun nosed along Jinki’s throat, pressing gentle kisses to every bit of skin, and not stopping until he reached the curve of his ear. 

“Something unwavering and eternal with you? Or should I sit in my study until my body grows old and weak, until my mind has been fried beyond comprehension.”

Jinki laughed, hand coming up to caress Jonghyun’s neck. “I assumed as much.”

“I’m not afraid of change. Only terrified of staying still; of growing stagnant,” Jonghyun hummed, kissing Jinki’s neck. 

Jinki held him close, stroking his hair with one hand and his back with the other. Jonghyun could almost hear the music—or what music he always imagined playing in this kind of fantasy.

“Is Wheesung—” Jonghyun started.

“Alive. Don’t worry,” Jinki whispered back, a soothing murmur in Jonghyun’s ear. “You know you can’t go back, though.”

Jonghyun nodded. “And you know that I have no desire to do so.”

Jinki kissed his cheek and pulled away, until their eyes were level once again. “We can’t survive off the blood of one another alone.” 

Jonghyun paused. He had known—somewhere in the sharpest points of his mind he had known—that Jinki was something more primal than the immediacy of the world they inhabited. He had been intrigued rather than repulsed, curious rather than frightened, and now he had accepted rather than refused. 

“Of course not.”

Jinki blinked, carefully studying each movement of Jonghyun’s face. “We cannot go out in the daytime,” he continued steadily.

“I’ve always preferred the night,” Jonghyun whispered back. He curled a piece of Jinki’s long hair around his finger, tugging on it gently. 

“In all my hundreds of years, I don’t know if I ever could have imagined you,” Jinki said, eyes full of wonder. “I suppose selfishness is not so wrong.”

“Not if it brought us here,” Jonghyun replied. “I don’t regret saving Wheesung. I don’t regret dying, and being reborn by your hand.”

“Mouth,” Jinki whispered.

“Mouth, teeth, tongue, lips,” Jonghyun said. “Everything you have.”

“Everything,” Jinki promised, rough and strong as the tide. 

  


  
\---

  


On the outskirts of a village in the mountains, they took a lone man walking drunk down a path near the woods. 

Jinki grabbed him swiftly by the neck—enough to bring him to the ground where Jonghyun crouched low, vibrating with hunger. It was a hunger that made the very walls of his stomach shake, a hunger that wrenched through his bones and tore up his insides. 

Jinki bit the man’s neck cleanly, puncturing only enough to draw out the blood he needed. He had told Jonghyun before that he always tried not to make a mess. 

Jonghyun wanted the mess. His whole body ached for it—to tear the skin apart between his new teeth and gulp down every drop of blood until the last of it seared his tongue. His fingers shook where he held the man’s sleeve, waiting as patiently as he could for Jinki to finish. 

“Pace yourself,” Jinki whispered once he’d pulled away. “I know it will be hard, but you have to try.”

Jonghyun rushed forward and clutched the man’s head between his hands, licking his lips as he dipped down. He lapped up what had already spilled from the wound and was slowly falling onto the damp forest floor. He scraped the tips of his teeth against the skin, against the fresh, unbroken parts that Jinki hadn’t marred. 

He clenched down, feeling capillaries burst and melt onto his tongue, and finally tasting that raw, hot, fresh blood. It wasn’t like Jinki’s—wasn’t sweet like wine or thick enough to stick to the back of his throat—but it gushed out and spilled from between his lips with just as much vigor.

He was ravenous, exhilarated, and never full enough. He drank until he had drained the very last drop, until Jinki’s hand twisted into the locks of his hair and yanked him up. Jonghyun sputtered and gasped, flailing helplessly in Jinki’s strong hold.

“He’s empty,” Jinki said. 

Jonghyun whined and kicked, managing to wrestle his way out of Jinki’s hands and fall to the ground. He could smell everything—the stench of the insects crawling under his hands, the bright green of the grass, and the slowly dying body of the man. It was distracting. Everything was distracting, and Jinki’s voice was barely audible in the midst of it all. 

“I’m still hungry,” Jonghyun insisted. 

Jinki shook his head. “You need to rest. I can’t let you gorge yourself.”

Jonghyun scoffed, but truly he had no desire to disobey Jinki. They were tied. 

“Take me to bed, then,” Jonghyun said. “As I’ve wanted and begged for.”

Jinki’s eyes gleamed with a new kind of hunger. 

  


  
\---

  


In their hideaway at the base of the mountain, Jinki laid Jonghyun down on the same soft bedding where he’d turned him. By the flickering candlelight, Jinki slipped off Jonghyun’s overcoat, untied his jeoguri, and bared his chest. He slowly shed his shoes, pulled down his pants, and left him raw and open.

Jonghyun panted in desperation, reaching out to undress Jinki too. They worked in silence, only the low sound of fabric shuffling punctuating their movements. The smooth, naked skin of Jinki’s chest came into view, and the shapely form of his hips swayed in the shadows.

“Come to me,” Jonghyun whispered, afraid to break the careful quiet that surrounded them. “Come to me, and don’t hold back.”

Jinki laid a steady hand on his check, brushing his thumb along the hard bone and dropping down to caress his jaw. Jonghyun leaned into it gratefully, reaching up to lock his legs behind Jinki’s waist. He tugged until their thighs touched. 

Jinki grasped for the bottle of oil placed next to the candle, pouring a generous amount into his hand. He leaned in close to nudge Jonghyun’s legs apart, to continue that process of unraveling. Jonghyun reached up and clutched his neck, pulling him down so he could lick into his mouth.

Jinki still tasted of blood. It had stained his tongue and teeth, and the bright red was only made more exuberant by the glow of the candlelight. Jonghyun licked the roof of his mouth and then the inside of his cheeks—exploring everywhere and tasting everything before he clasped his lips in a proper kiss. 

The vulnerable wet sound of Jinki’s fingers buried deep inside him, and their messy, desperate mouths scrambling for purchase echoed off each other in a vulgar little symphony. Jonghyun pressed down for more, urging Jinki to give him what he really wanted. 

He gasped into Jonghyun’s mouth, wet fingers slipping out. Jonghyun whined at the rush of air that blew across his bare skin when Jinki left him exposed, and he nipped at his bottom lip with one fang until a small drop of blood pooled.

Jinki moaned as Jonghyun suckled on his lip, pulling hot blood forth and letting it trickle down his throat. He reached for his cock and blindly pushed it inside, eyes falling shut in the euphoria. Jonghyun stuttered and cried out, immediately baring down until Jinki had filled him completely.

He let go of Jinki’s lip, and wrapped a strong hand around his neck to bring their faces together until their noses touched. Jinki started to move, thrusting into the wet, wanting heat of Jonghyun’s body that trembled around him. Jonghyun studied his gaze for a moment, asking a question with the slightest shift of his eyes. 

“Whatever you want is yours,” Jinki choked out, thumbs coming up to brush away the wild strands of his hair, sticking wet to the blood still clinging to his lips.

Jonghyun grinned madly and leaned in, biting down and sucking hard at the tight muscle between Jinki’s shoulder and neck. Jinki’s hips kicked forward in an erratic rhythm, chasing every touch Jonghyun wanted to give. He was pulling Jinki forward in every measure of the word—clutching him between teeth and body so violently that he would never be let go. 

Jinki gasped, tugging Jonghyun away before he took too much. His mouth and chin were already stained dark red. It was the deep, rich, red blood that pumped fierce and fast through human hearts; that Jinki had seen and tasted so many times.

Jonghyun twitched around his cock, shifting his hips to meet each of Jinki’s desperate movements. He trailed his hands up Jinki’s chest, rubbing his fingers into the wound he had created until they were stained too. He sucked them between his lips and looked up at Jinki with hot, heavy-lidded eyes. Jinki groaned and fell forward, head landing on Jonghyun’s chest as he gripped his hips and let Jonghyun’s body be his sanctuary. 

“Next time, I’ll have you on your knees,” Jonghyun whispered, low and filthy in his ear. “I want to make you beg.”

“I won’t beg,” Jinki choked out. “I won’t need to. You’ll already know how much I’ll want it.”

Jonghyun grinned, blood-dipped fangs cutting a line through the shadow of the night like a gleaming knife. Jinki gasped against his chest, teeth scraping the smooth skin. Jonghyun’s cock jumped between them.

He felt Jinki’s smile stretch out across him, and then his mouth was hot at the space underneath Jonghyun’s right chest muscle. Jinki licked him first, likely tasting the leftover scent of the man they had killed together. His lips lingered, shaking where he kissed him, and then his teeth sunk in. Jonghyun jolted into it, hips slamming down as Jinki thrusted forward.

Jinki sucked hard, at the same rate that he pushed deep inside Jonghyun until it felt like his body might split—along the seam of his chest spilling hot and willing down Jinki’s throat, and from the inside out as Jinki pulled his pleasure forward in a great, rushing wave. 

Jonghyun moaned, desperate and needy in Jinki’s ear, fingers clawing through his hair. He held tight as the heat swirling in his belly threatened to come to a head. He squirmed on Jinki’s cock, pulling him further in, aching around him. 

“Come for me,” Jinki whispered, voice muffled by the warm blood. Jonghyun’s eyelids fluttered as he whimpered. “Come for me, like I’ve seen magnificent in my dreams.”

“Always,” Jonghyun breathed, all the colors of pleasure blending together like a kaleidoscope behind his eyes.

Jinki reached down as Jonghyun’s hips canted up, and squeezed at the base of his dick until Jonghyun cried out in ecstasy. Blood gushed from his body to Jinki’s lips, and his cum slipped down Jinki’s fingers as he milked his cock until the very last drop.

His whole being was in Jinki’s hands, guided and brought to fruition just like he had been at the cold river’s edge. Jonghyun would have him the same way too—until each of them belonged to the other so intimately that pain and pleasure, happiness and sadness, would all be sensations they shared. 

He held Jinki by the back of the skull as he came too, crying out in vulnerability against the bite he’d made on Jonghyun’s chest. The blood splattered out and trailed down to the bedding underneath them. Small red dots like tiny rubies littered its surface. 

Jinki collapsed on him, and they lay together as the sounds of the world beyond played out around them. Just as Jonghyun had always believed, the night was so much more alive than the day, and now it would eternally be so. 

He tugged Jinki’s head up to kiss him. It was softer, gentler than they had touched before. All that rabid hunger and uncontrollable ache finally sedated, with nothing left but room for their devotion to grow. 

Jinki’s eyes were hazy and far off as he pulled away. “You may hate me someday, you know.”

Jonghyun laughed and shook his head, tracing Jinki’s nose with a finger. Underneath his nail, blood had dried in rusty lines like red dirt. 

“How could that be?” he asked. 

“Eternity has bound us together, one way or the other,” Jinki replied. “That’s a very long time.”

“Long enough for me to find all the secrets you keep hidden inside?” Jonghyun said, whispering it against Jinki’s lips. 

Jinki chuckled, shoulders falling with ease. He brushed hair away from Jonghyun’s eyes again. “All of them, and more after that.”

Jonghyun smiled, and his long fangs made the motion feel more powerful than it ever had.

“I will love you,” he said with sincerity. “The feelings are already starting to bloom.”

Jinki paused, eyes shifting into a guarded darkness. Jonghyun ran the pad of his thumb along Jinki’s teeth, pricking his skin with the edge of one fang. He slid the thumb between his lips, and lapped up the tiny drop of blood that appeared. 

A smirk pulled at the side of Jinki’s mouth, and he kissed Jonghyun’s forehead. He stayed there for a moment, breathing slowly onto his skin and letting his lips linger where they had just pressed. 

“I will love you too,” Jinki whispered, cupping Jonghyun’s face. He pulled away from his forehead and looked deep into his eyes. “Don’t ever let me forget that.”

Jonghyun smiled, baring his bright fangs once again. 

“Never,” he said. 

The light of their candle dimmed as the night waned, but the moon was an ever present companion. Its ethereal glow cascaded down the mountain, wrapping their bodies up in blue and coloring the blood they had given each other a deep black. Like ink spilled on the pages of Jonghyun’s books now left behind, they’d torn out their hearts and laid them in rapture at each other’s feet.

No longer the animal living inside him who had dared to be set free, the darkness was now Jonghyun’s lover, and the pull of the night guided him forward. Into that loving embrace he ran—into the arms of un-death, who sealed his promise with a bloody kiss.

Beginning and end were obsolete. There was only the infinite stretch of forever.

//

_“That is the crowning evil, that we can even go so far as to love each other, you and I._  
_And who else would show us a particle of love, a particle of compassion or mercy?_  
_Who else, knowing us as we know each other, could do anything but destroy us?_  
_Yet, we can love each other.”_

—Interview With The Vampire, 1976

  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought in the comments ^^


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